By Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) reported on Wednesday, May 8th, that it decided to suspend grants for master and doctorate scholarships.
The advisor to the body linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC) informed Brazilian News outlet G1 that the “freezing” of scholarships occurred in May.
In a note, CAPES says that the system for generating payrolls “remained closed for adjustment of scholarship grants” this month, which in practice means “recall of scholarships that were available to the institutions.”
CAPES also states that it does not have the exact number of scholarships retracted.
The decision prevents new applicants from receiving scholarships that were already released and planned for 2019.
According to CAPES, the freeze does not include students whose masters and doctorates are currently in progress.
The monthly amount per student is R$1,500 for master degrees and R$2,200 for doctorates.
The suspended scholarships are a part of the amount released by CAPES to universities for allocation to new candidates which have not yet been awarded.
As students receiving scholarships complete their master or doctorate courses, the funds are released to be allocated to a new student. The portion of funds that had not yet been allocated was frozen.
New policies in CAPES
In addition to the freezing of all unutilized scholarships identified in postgraduate programs, CAPES anticipates the gradual reduction of the granting of new scholarships for all courses that maintain a grade 3 (minimum definition of residency in the CAPES postgraduate system) over a period of ten years. Currently, 211 programs have this score.
Also, a suspension of new grants for the “Languages Without Borders” program originated from “Science without Borders” is planned.
According to CAPES, partnerships with the business sector will be strengthened so that investments in research can be expanded.
In a note to G1, the prorector said that “official CAPES information regarding funding for graduate studies will be given to prorectors tomorrow at a meeting in Brasília.”
After receiving several questions from scholarship holders and universities, the National Association of Graduate Students (ANPG) requested a formal decision from CAPES.
According to the president of the association, Flávia Calé, “it is difficult to know exactly what is going on until CAPES’ decision has been clarified.”
“We reassure our students that this fact does not interfere with scholarship holders who are already receiving their funds, as there were no cuts made to any of the recipients within the system. Students should be aware that no cuts or suspensions have been made to any present scholarships.”